Samsung Taunts Apple
By Harry McCracken | Wednesday, November 23, 2011 at 10:02 am
Behold Samsung’s new commercial for the Galaxy S II:
It’s a pretty clever ad–certainly more so than most that make fun of Apple, and even if its claims about 4G are questionable–and if it ticks off iPhone owners, that’s apparently OK. In an interview with Steve Kovach of the Business Insider, Samsung marketing honcho Brian Wallace says that the company isn’t actually trying to convince iPhone owners to switch to Galaxy phones. It’s addressing users of other Android handsets, and using Apple fans as a target of satire.
Side note: All ads that mock Apple do so based on the notion that the company’s customers are style-obsessed young people. I’ve come to think of this as the Unicorn Tears theory. And I don’t think it bears much resemblance to the reality of Apple’s user base.
I’ve stood in lines to buy new Apple products. I’ve waited at the Apple Store to talk to a Genius. I’ve done a lot of observing of Apple customers, and while it’s possible that the company’s customers include more style-obsessed young people than average, I don’t think such folks dominate. Mostly, the Apple customers I’ve seen look like America. They’re young, old, hip, square, smart, clueless, pretty, ugly, admirable, alarming, and–like people in general–what former New York City Mayor David Dinkins used to call a gorgeous tapestry…
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17 Comments For This Post
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:42 am
“Buy our phone because it’s one nobody gives a crap about.”
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:45 am
Unfurl that 'Murrican flag extra hard if you're gonna wax patriotic like that, son.
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:22 pm
"… I’ve waited at the Apple Store.."
Really? That's the basis for your opinion? Well trust me when I say that Apple products are definitively sought after by style-obsessed young people. Take a walk around a high school (both my kids are of that age) and all you see are iPhones and iPods matched with Beats headphones. All on display for their peers to see.
Maybe the store is full of people that have cars to drive there, which would explain the age discrepancy.
November 26th, 2011 at 1:40 am
Take a walk around a high school (both my kids are of that age) and all you see are iPhones and iPods matched with Beats headphones. All on display for their peers to see.
Really? That's the basis for your opinion?
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Maybe it’s a regional thing. Around my parts, the overwhelming majority of people who use iPhones are either young and stylish or soccer moms.
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:17 pm
What's wrong with soccer moms?
November 23rd, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Hmm, must be doing something right. They sell more smart phones than Apple. Remember, satire requires SOME hyperbole…
November 23rd, 2011 at 10:26 pm
Here, most people tote either Nokia or Blackberry phones while most people who get into the tablet foray have Samsung or Asus tablets. Apple product that really catch people’s minds here is iPod — Macs are, for whatever reason I don’t even understand, seen mostly as irrelevant geek luxury toys. People who have Mac are almost always of hacker type of some sort, and they almost always have more than two operating systems installed on their Mac (OS X, Windows and at least a flavor of Linux).
November 24th, 2011 at 5:09 am
I love this ad!!!
November 26th, 2011 at 3:01 am
I love it too 🙂
November 24th, 2011 at 7:32 am
I just want to know who the hot woman is.
November 24th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Side note: All Apple ads that mock MS do so based on the notion that the company’s customers are stuffy, un-creative business types. I’ve come to think of this as the market share envy theory.
November 25th, 2011 at 9:15 am
"I can't get one, I'm creative"
LOL
November 26th, 2011 at 1:43 am
Wow talk about a cheap, unoriginal dig. It's like a bunch of Phandroids trolls created the ad… OMG I'm so gonna buy it coz it has a bigger screen & 4G which I can't even get in my country!!!!1
November 27th, 2011 at 6:07 am
I have a bad connection today.. sorry can't view the vids yet.. Love the idea though..
November 30th, 2011 at 4:04 am
my 7 inch samsung tablet has a phone. it rocks!!!
January 18th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Glaxy can not reach ahead of Iphone. They have tried a lot by using samsung and many other companies but they can not be in a good place. Thanks tea kettles